City Hall’s new proposed budget would shutter two libraries and slice economic development by a third, while adding police officers and increasing spending for street maintenance.
Public libraries in two of Wichita’s lower-income neighborhoods — Evergreen and Linwood — would close over the next two years under the proposal from City Manager Robert Layton.
The plan would cut economic development funding by a third, with all of the remaining money going to the Greater Wichita Partnership, a public-private consortium.
The budget also would add 32 positions to the police department next year. And it would increase the street maintenance budget to $10 million, $2 million more than this year. Layton also has proposed changes at CityArts, Old Cowtown Museum and the animal shelter, in which private or nonprofit groups would operate those facilities while city staff would provide maintenance and oversight.
Layton made the recommendations Tuesday as the Wichita City Council got its first public briefing on the annual budget.
Among the key proposals:
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